Assisted venue staff guidance

ABSTRACT

A platform generates a current path of a venue attendee based on the venue attendee&#39;s recorded location data. The platform also generates a suggested path for the venue attendee from the venue attendee&#39;s location to the point of interest. The platform identifies a dissimilarity between the current path of the venue attendee and the suggested path for the venue attendee, and based on identification of this dissimilarity, sends an alert to a venue staff member who is near the venue attendee.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. applicationSer. No. 15/828,120 filed Nov. 30, 2017 and entitled “Development,Deployment and Real Time Management of Highly Personalized ExperiencesOccurring at Managed Locations,” and claims the priority benefit of U.S.provisional application No. 62/428,303 filed Nov. 30, 2016 and entitled“Development, Deployment and Real Time Management of Highly PersonalizedExperiences Occurring at Managed Locations,” the disclosures of whichare hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The present teachings are generally related to an experience developmentand management platform. More specifically, the present teachings relateto development, deployment and real time management of highlypersonalized experiences occurring at managed locations.

2. Description of the Related Art

Locations that host visitors provide a wide range of experiences. Thevenues often have special events such as entertainment performances,provide attractions, such as rides, and provide various goods andservices, including foods, beverages, souvenirs and other merchandise,and many others. Items available at any given point of interest within alocation often change throughout a day or season, and other changingfactors, such as waiting lines, can further impact a guest or customerexperience. In such a complex and changing environment, it is verydifficult to provide visitors with relevant information at all times asthe visitors move from point-to-point within the location managed by ahost. Also, as many venues are large and complex, challenges exist forpersonnel to keep track of what is happening throughout a location at agiven time and to help each visitor have a favorable experiencethroughout a visit, and challenges exist for visitors to communicateamong themselves or communicate with the personnel of a venue. Mostlocations that host these experiences provide static paper maps,brochures or signs that provide guests information about a location andencourage engagement in one or more activities at the location. Someprovide additional information via website or apps that contain generalinformation about the venue and some updated information, such as eventschedules.

However, the quantity of experiences and points of interest at venuescan be overwhelming for venue attendees. Information concerning theseexperiences and points of interest can be difficult or impossible forattendees to find, as not all of it is publically accessible, and anyinformation that is available might be difficult to parse in anymeaningful way. As such, attendees, especially in groups, often mustspend long periods of time deliberating and planning routes anditineraries that makes sense based on their locations, their likes,their dislikes, and so forth—and even so, they still might make poorchoices in light of missing inventory at restaurants, long queues atcertain points of interest, or other discouraging situations. As such, asystem is needed to intelligently make recommendations to users and togroups of users based on different types of information about a venueand the user(s).

SUMMARY

A method for assisting a venue staff member in providing guidance withina predetermined venue area is claimed. The method includes receiving,from a mobile device associated with the venue staff member, a locationof the mobile device associated with the venue staff member. The methodalso includes receiving, from a mobile device associated with a venueattendee, a location of the mobile device associated with the venueattendee. The method also includes retrieving an itinerary associatedwith the venue attendee, the itinerary identifying a point of interest.The method also includes generating a suggested path for the venueattendee from the location of the mobile device associated with thevenue attendee to a location of the point of interest identified by theitinerary. The method also includes generating a current path of thevenue attendee based on the location of the mobile device associatedwith the venue attendee and one or more past locations of the mobiledevice associated with the venue attendee. The method also includesidentifying a dissimilarity between the suggested path for the venueattendee and the current path of the venue attendee. The method alsoincludes sending an alert to the mobile device associated with the venuestaff member automatically in response to identifying the dissimilarity,the alert identifying at least the venue attendee and the point ofinterest.

A system for assisting a venue staff member in providing guidance withina predetermined venue area is claimed. The system includes acommunication transceiver that receives a location of a mobile deviceassociated with the venue staff member and a location of a mobile deviceassociated with a venue attendee and that sends an alert to the mobiledevice associated with the venue staff member. The system also includesa memory storing instructions and an itinerary associated with the venueattendee. The system also includes a processor, wherein execution of theinstructions by the processor causes the processor to perform systemoperations. The system operations include generating a suggested pathfor the venue attendee from the location of the mobile device associatedwith the venue attendee to a location of a point of interest identifiedby the itinerary. The system operations also include generating acurrent path of the venue attendee based on the location of the mobiledevice associated with the venue attendee and one or more past locationsof the mobile device associated with the venue attendee. The systemoperations also include identifying a dissimilarity between thesuggested path for the venue attendee and the current path of the venueattendee. The system operations also include generating the alertautomatically in response to identifying the dissimilarity.

Another method for assisting a venue staff member in providing guidancewithin a predetermined venue area is claimed. The method includesreceiving a location of a mobile device associated with the venue staffmember. The method also includes receiving a location of a mobile deviceassociated with a venue attendee. The method also includes generating asuggested path for the venue attendee from the location of the mobiledevice associated with the venue attendee to a location of a point ofinterest identified in an itinerary associated with the venue attendee.The method also includes generating a current path of the venue attendeebased on the location of a mobile device associated with the venueattendee and one or more past locations of the mobile device associatedwith the venue attendee. The method also includes identifying adissimilarity between the suggested path for the venue attendee and thecurrent path of the venue attendee. The method also includes sending analert identifying the venue attendee to the mobile device associatedwith the venue staff member automatically in response to identifying thedissimilarity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 illustrates a system architecture for personalizing journeys anditineraries.

FIG. 2 illustrates a technology stack for real-time management ofexperiences with respect to personalized itineraries.

FIG. 3 illustrates information flow for real-time management ofexperiences and personalized itineraries.

FIG. 4 illustrates a dynamic live venue map identifying a personalizeditinerary in a theme park venue.

FIG. 5 illustrates a recommended itinerary map interface for a singleuser.

FIG. 6 illustrates a recommended itinerary map interface for two users.

FIG. 7 illustrates delivery of itinerary personalization to users.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an exemplary computing device that may beused to implement the present systems.

FIG. 9 illustrates identification of a venue attendee who is headed inan incorrect direction.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A platform is described herein with various methods, systems,components, processes, services and the like that facilitate the design,creation, delivery and management of experiences at locations and venuesthat are optionally managed by a host. The platform generates apersonalized itinerary and corresponding map for a user within a venue.The personalized itinerary includes at least one recommended point ofinterest, the recommendation generated based on a location of therecommended point of interest relative to a location of the user, andbased on a comparison between user profile information concerning theuser and point of interest information concerning the recommended pointof interest. The recommended point of interest may also be recommendedbased on estimated wait times, queue lengths, or other informationobtained by the platform's servers.

Locations, areas, or venues as described herein may includeentertainment venues, malls, stores, theme parks, campuses, cruiseships, schools, universities, arenas, public parks, resorts, airports,terminals, tourist attractions, monuments, stations, markets, districts(e.g., municipal districts), stadiums, predetermined geographical areas,cruise routes, travel routes, cities, counties, countries, continents,or a combination thereof. These and other locations are collectivelyreferred to throughout this disclosure interchangeably as “venues,”,“areas,” or “locations,” and reference to any of the foregoing should beunderstood to encompass one or more of these, except where contextindicates otherwise. Such locations, areas, or venues are hosted byparties such as commercial enterprises, non-profit entities, educationalentities, and federal, state and municipal governments, collectivelyreferred to herein as “hosts,” “managers,” or “owners.” Such locationsattract and host thousands of people (referred to herein as “visitors,”“guests,” and “customers”) and provide a wide range of experiences. Suchlocations, areas, or venues may have predetermined boundaries that maybe used as geofence boundaries that, when crossed by a location-trackingdevice whose location is determined via Global Navigation SatelliteSystem (GNSS) or proximity to short-range wireless beacon devices, maytrigger actions as described further herein.

The platform of the present disclosure enables the creation ofpersonalized, relevant experiences that are delivered to guests at oneor more points of interest within a location at the right time, takinginto account a wide range of dynamic factors. By delivering a series ofsuch experiences over the course of a visit, through a dynamic,personalized itinerary, a host can provide guests with an optimizedoverall experience while using the resources that are required toprovide such experiences more efficiently and more profitably.

The present disclosure further includes a wide range of systems,methods, components, processes, and the like that facilitate thedevelopment and operation of the platform. For example, the platform mayinclude methods and systems for developing and managing a user profileor identity, such as based on demographic factors, past history, anduser behavior, such as to enable provision of personalized experiences,recommendations, itineraries and communications. The platform mayinclude facilities for automating the creation, assembly, delivery, andmanagement of experiences, including facilities for connecting to andintegrating with relevant systems (such as inventory systems, ticketingand entitlement management systems, reservations systems, schedulingsystems, and many others), for extracting, transforming and loading datato and from such systems, and for using machine learning to automate thecompletion of various methods, such as generation of relevantrecommendations, customization of communications, optimization ofmonetization, optimization of experiences, optimization of itineraries,and others.

The platform may further include various methods for facilitatingcommunication among hosts, personnel and visitors. These methods includedetermining that a user has entered a managed location by a computingdevice and identifying user contacts within the venue. The methodsfurther include transmitting messages and other content to computingdevices associated with each user contact within the venue regarding theuser within the venue.

The present teachings further include methods for providing a dynamicmap that is configured for display on a computing device, includingproviding graphical images of a venue and of relevant points of interestwithin the venue, with various interface elements, such as icons, logos,directional indicators, and the like that facilitate understanding aboutthe venue. The map may provide a navigation interface, such as forrouting a user to one or more points of interest in a location, such asguiding a user through one or more steps of an itinerary. The map mayfurther include providing a visual update of the user on the map as thevisitor moves through the venue and providing a personalized message orother content to the visitor regarding the venue, such as based on userdata collected while the user is in the venue or other information aboutthe user.

The present teachings also include methods for determining wait timesand using wait time information as a factor for designing and deliveringexperiences. The methods may include receiving direct wait time data fora point of interest, receiving location map data, and receivingadditional data including at least one of network traffic measurementdata, entitlement redemption data, and show or event schedule data. Themethods may further include determining a wait time and reporting thewait time to a remote device.

The present teachings may further include methods for engaging with auser within a venue. The method may include setting a first rule for apromotion provided by an application executing on a server. The firstrule may indicate to which users within a venue the promotion will beavailable. The method may further include communicating the promotion toa plurality of user devices within the venue and that correspond to thefirst rule. The user devices may be associated with users within thevenue. The method may also include updating the promotion before thepromotion ends for at least one of the plurality of users.

The terms “a” or “an,” as used herein, are defined as one or more thanone. The term “another,” as used herein, is defined as at least a secondor more. The terms “including” and/or “having”, as used herein, aredefined as comprising (i.e., open transition).

The present teachings generally include design, creation, development,assembly, provisioning, delivery and management of one or morepersonalized, timely experiences at one or more points of interest inone or more managed or hosted locations. For convenience these and otherelements and capabilities of the platform are collectively referred toherein as “management” or “real time management” of experiences, exceptwhere context indicates otherwise. A managed location can include any ofa wide variety of locations or venues as disclosed throughout thisdisclosure or known by those of skill in the art, such as a venue,stadium, arena, public park, public space or district, concert hall,amusement park, theme park, water park, block party, house party, beergarden, mall, store, monument, tourist attraction, and many others.Managed locations can also include multiple premises that as a whole canconstitute managed locations, such as, without limitation, a series offranchised locations. Managed locations can also include mobileplatforms such as watercraft, cruise liners, trains, and aircraft. Itwill be appreciated in light of the disclosure that an entertainmentvenue, such as a theme park, is but one managed location in which thepresent teachings can be implemented. Managed locations can also includelocations (one or many) of an enterprise, brand or other entity wherephysical assets of the enterprise are located. Managed locations canalso include any venue, store location, mall, theme park, city park,village, campus, cruise ship dock, airport terminals, parkingstructures, and many others.

A platform discussed herein generates a current path of a venue attendeebased on the venue attendee's recorded location data. The platform alsogenerates a suggested path for the venue attendee from the venueattendee's location to the point of interest. The platform identifies adissimilarity between the current path of the venue attendee and thesuggested path for the venue attendee, and based on identification ofthis dissimilarity, sends an alert to a venue staff member who is nearthe venue attendee.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system architecture for personalizing journeys anditineraries. Uses of the system 100 of FIG. 1 may include live, dynamicmapping that utilizes branding, including hyper-local marketing. Thesystem 100 of FIG. 1 includes an ecosystem of data sources 105 such asmobile devices and/or wearable devices 110, point-of-entry/-exit (POE)terminals 115, point-of-sale (POS) terminals 117, and databases 120.Communicatively coupled to data sources 105 are back-end applicationservers 125. In system 100, application servers 125 can ingest,normalize and process data collected from mobile devices 110 and variousPOS or POE terminals 115. Types of information 140 gathered from datasources 105 and processed by back-end application servers 125 aregenerally inclusive of identity information such as user profiles,customer relationship management (CRM) data, entitlements, demographics,reservation systems and social media sources like Pinterest™ andFacebook™ data. Information 140 gathered from data sources 105 andprocessed by back-end application servers 125 also includesproximity/location information gathered using GNSS receivers such asGlobal Positioning System (GPS) receivers of mobile/wearable devices 100and/or via proximity between mobile/wearable devices 100 and beaconsthat emit short-range wireless signals (e.g., Bluetooth®, Bluetooth® LE,iBeacon, NFC, RFID, WiFi, radio). Information 140 gathered from datasources 105 and processed by back-end application servers 125 alsoincludes time-related data, such as schedules, weather, and queuelength.

Mobile and wearable devices 110 can execute applications via processorsthat make use of sensors and receivers of the respective mobile andwearable devices 110 to generate customer engagement data and then sharethat customer engagement data as the information 140 to the applicationserver(s) 125. The customer engagement data/information 140 may include,for example, current and prior physical locale within a venue as well aswait times and travel times (e.g., how long was a customer at aparticular point in a venue and how long did it take the customer totravel to a further point in a venue), paths to certain point on themap, and other information. Mobile devices 110 are inclusive of wearabledevices. Wearable devices (or ‘wearables’) are any type of mobileelectronic device that can be worn on the body or attached to orembedded in clothes and accessories of an individual, such aswristwatches, wristbands, armbands, chest bands, ankle bands, glasses,head-worn devices, devices integrated into clothing (including shoes,pants, shirts, jackets, hats, and others), and others. Processors andsensors associated with a wearable can gather, process, display, andtransmit and receive information, including location information, motioninformation and physiological information, among many other types.

With continued reference to FIG. 1, the POS data may be gathered atpoint of entry (POE) 115, or point of sale (POS) terminals 117 that mayinteract with a mobile or wearable device 110 to track customer purchasehistory at a venue or preference for engagement at a particular localewithin the venue. POE terminals 115 may provide data related to venuetraffic flow, including entry and exit data that can be inclusive oftime and volume. POE terminals 115 may likewise interact with mobile andwearable devices 110. POE terminals 115 and POS terminals 117 alike mayinclude or be connected to beacon devices using short-range wirelesscommunication transceivers to communicate with the mobile and wearabledevices 110 and thereby determine a location of the mobile and wearabledevices 110 (or velocity, or heading, or other information 140concerning the mobile and wearable devices 110) relative to knownlocation of the beacon based on a known signal strength (and a knownsignal range at the known signal strength) of the beacon.

Historical data may also be accessed at databases 120 as a part of theapplication server 125 processing operation. The results of a processingor normalization operation may likewise be stored for later access anduse. Processing and normalization results may also be delivered tofront-end applications (and corresponding application servers) thatallow for the deployment of contextual experiences and provide a networkof services to remote devices as is further described herein.

The present system 100 may be used with and communicate with any numberof external front-end devices 135 by way of a communications network130, either directly through the communication network 130 or softwaredevelopment kit (SDK) instructions called by particular softwareapplications (e.g., white label apps) run at the app server(s) 125, atthe front-end devices 135, at the data sources 105, at a device alongthe way in the communication network 130, or some combination thereof.The communications network 130 may be a local, proprietary network(e.g., an intranet) and/or may be a part of a larger wide-area network.The communication network 130 may include a variety of connectedcomputing devices that provide one or more elements of a network-basedservice. The communications network 130 may include actual serverhardware or virtual hardware simulated by software running on one ormore actual machines thereby allowing for software controlled scaling ina cloud environment.

The communications network 130 may allow for communication between datasources 105 and front-end devices 135 via any number of variouscommunication paths or channels that collectively make up thecommunications network 130. Such paths and channels may operateutilizing any number of standards or protocols including TCP/IP, 802.11,Bluetooth, iBeacon, GSM, GPRS, 4G, and LTE. The communications network130 may be a local area network (LAN) that can be communicativelycoupled to a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet operatingthrough one or more network service provider.

Information received and provided over a communications network 130 maycome from other information systems such as GPS, cellular serviceproviders, or third-party service providers such as social networks. Thesystem 100 can measure location and proximity using hardware on a userdevice (e.g., GPS) or collect the data from fixed hardware andinfrastructure such as Wi-Fi positioning systems and Radio Frequency ID(RFID) readers. An exemplary location and proximity implementation mayinclude a Bluetooth low-energy or iBeacon beacon with real timeproximity detection that can be correlated to latitude/longitudemeasurements for fixed beacon locations.

Additional use cases may include phone-based, GPS, real-time location(latitude/longitude) measurements, phone geo-fence-real timenotifications when a device is moving into or out of location regions,Wi-Fi positioning involving user location detection based on Wi-Fisignal strength (both active or passive), RFID/Near Field Communication(NFC), and cellular tower positioning involving wide range detection ofuser device location, which may occur at the metro-level.

Front-end devices 135 are inclusive of kiosks, mobile devices, wearabledevices, venue devices, captive portals, digital signs, and POS and POEdevices. It should be noted that each of these external devices may beused to gather information about one or more consumers at a particularlocation during a particular time. Thus, a device that is providinginformation to a customer on the front-end (i.e., a front-end device135) such as a mobile device executing an application or a speciallydesigned wearable can also function as a data source 105 as describedabove. In some cases, front-end devices 135 may include any one of thedata sources 105 providing the information 140 to the app server 125,such as one of the mobile/wearable devices 110, one of the points ofexit/entry 115, one of the points of sale 117, or one of the databases120.

The system 100 of FIG. 1 provides services for personalizing journeysand itineraries. For example, a dynamic map including markerscorresponding to various captured photos, recorded videos, transactionreceipts, messages, social media posts, and other events may begenerated at a mobile computing device 110, at one or more applicationserver(s) 125, at one or more front-end-devices 135, or some combinationthereof. Any of the devices illustrated in FIG. 1, including the mobilecomputing devices 110, application server(s) 125, and front-end devices135 may include at least one computing system 800, or may include atleast some of the components illustrated in FIG. 8.

FIG. 2 illustrates a technology stack for real-time management ofexperiences with respect to personalized itineraries. More specifically,FIG. 2 depicts a physical world content management system 200. Thephysical world content management system 200 can include a dynamic venuemap 202 and various elements of a venue systems infrastructure 204. Themanagement system 200 can also include a mobile device 220 and awearable device 222. The management system 200 can also manage variousitineraries 228, such as for users or groups of users. The managementsystem 200 can include an experience as a service (EaaS) platform 230with a wide range of capabilities, as well as facilities for variousinterfaces to the platform 230, such as interfaces for analytics 256 andfor other users of an enterprise, such as through a corporate orcommercial viewer 254. The management system 200 may also include anEaaS software development kit (SDK) 250 for designing, developing andassembling experiences. The management system 200 can further include alive experience development application 252 for developing experiences.

The EaaS platform 230 of FIG. 2 may be run via the app server(s) 125 ofFIG. 1. The mobile device 220 and wearable device 222 of FIG. 2 may actas the mobile/wearable device 110 of FIG. 1 and/or the front-end device135 of FIG. 1. The locations system infrastructure 204 of FIG. 2 mayinclude the element(s) of the data sources 105 and/or the app server 125of FIG. 1.

The dynamic venue map 202 can connect to or be integrated with the EaaSplatform 230, such that the experiences created, delivered and managedusing the platform can include elements presented on the venue map 202,such as to visitors and to staff of the host. The SDK 250 anddevelopment application 252 may also generate and tweak a venue map 202,such as to allow developers to consider and integrate points ofinterest, routes, inventory locations, service locations, and otherfactors on the map when designing and delivering experiences. The venuemap 202 may integrate any of the information 140 discussed with respectto FIG. 1 and may also connect to or integrate with the systemsinfrastructure 204 of a location, such as to exchange data with elementsof the systems infrastructure 204 that are relevant to experiences, suchas sales and inventory data contained in point of sale (POS)infrastructure 212, to exchange location data with location-specific ornavigation infrastructure elements 208, such as beacons 216 and accesspoints 218 (e.g., WiFi hotspots and/or cell towers), and to coordinatewith content on media and signage infrastructure 214. The venue map 220may also connect to mobile devices 220, wearable devices 222 and theitineraries 228, so that map information can be presented on a visitor'sdevices, with appropriate itinerary information, messages, and the like,optionally presented in context using the map 202 as a presentationlayer. The itineraries 228 may be presented as lists, as a set ofdirections from the user's location to each consecutive POI/experience,or as a map that points out the user's location relative to eachconsecutive POI/experience (as in FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6). In manyaspects of the present teachings, the dynamic venue map 202 can connectto the EaaS platform 230 through the physical world content managementsystem 238 and through use of the EaaS SDK 250, which may includevarious elements for creating, assembling, delivering and managingexperiences.

In aspects of the present teachings, the location systems infrastructure204 can include a venue inventory management system 206 and an indoornavigation infrastructure 208. Moreover, the location systemsinfrastructure 204 can make use of general networking infrastructure210. The location systems infrastructure 204 can include a POSinfrastructure 212, a media/display/signage infrastructure 214, beacons216, and access points 218. The venue inventory management systems 206can connect to the dynamic venue map 202, the indoor navigationinfrastructure 208 and general networking infrastructure 210. Thegeneral networking infrastructure 210 can connect to a POSinfrastructure 212, the media/display/signage infrastructure 214, thebeacons 216, the access points 218, and the like.

The mobile device 220 can include a mobile beacon 224. The mobile device220 can also connect to a wearable device 222 and can access theitineraries 228, such as to present an itinerary of a user or group onthe device. The mobile device 220 can also connect to the EaaS Platform230, the dynamic venue map 202, the location systems infrastructure 204and the EaaS SDK 250 to provide and receive data necessary to manage anexperience, to receive and redeem entitlements, to communicate aboutexperiences, to receive recommendations, to receive itineraries, and thelike. In additional aspects of the present teachings, the mobile device220 or wearable device 222 can connect to the location systemsinfrastructure 204, such as using the indoor navigation infrastructure208 or using other location capabilities, such as global positioningsystem (GPS) or cellular triangulation, so that the host can maintainprecise understanding of the user's location at all times. In aspects,the mobile device 220 of wearable device 222 can connect to the locationsystems infrastructure 204 through the venue inventory managementsystems 206, such as where the mobile device 220 or wearable device 222is used to order or purchase items, either at a point of sale or pointof interest, or remotely.

In various embodiments, the wearable device 222 can include or comprisea wearable beacon 226, such as to provide location information about theposition of the wearer of the wearable device 222, such as by detectingproximity to one or more points of interest (such as by detecting orinteracting with wireless infrastructure capabilities of the venue thatare known to be located at the points of interest via NFC, Bluetooth™,Bluetooth™ Low Energy (BTLE), WiFi, iBeacon, or other wireless signals,or other location methods, such as cellular triangulation, GPS, deadreckoning, user reporting of location, etc.). The wearable device 222can connect to or interact with the mobile device 220 and one or moreitineraries 228 (such as to receive information about current andupcoming itinerary items, such as the nature of the items, locations,times and routing information within the venue to the next or subsequentitem, as well as to receive information about entitlements, such astickets, that may be used, via the wearable device 222, in connectionwith items on the itinerary). The EaaS platform 230 can include orconnect to a reporting and analytics facility 232, which may takeinformation from various components of the EaaS platform 230, or otherelements that interact with the EaaS platform 230 and allow thegeneration of reports and analytic results on the data, such asinformation about what experiences have been recommended, whatexperiences have been undertaken by users, what entitlements have beenredeemed, what goods or services have been purchased, what profits havebeen made, and the like, in each case optionally presented by timeperiod, by location, by visitor, by group, by demographic factor, and bymany other variables. The analytics facility 232 may thus allow users,such as marketing staff of a host, to analyze the impact of any of thefactors captured in the various data sets used by the EaaS platform 230that may contribute to creation, recommendation, assembly, delivery, andcompletion of experiences, as measured by contribution of the factorsany of a wide variety of measures of performance (e.g., number ofvisits, duration of visits, frequency of visit, visitor satisfactionratings, profit per visitor, profit per time period, gross sales, netsales, gross profits, net profits, amounts paid by sponsors, rates paidby sponsors for sponsorship, and many other). Analytics may includevisualizations, such as heat maps, as well as presentations of resultsas an overlay on the dynamic venue map, such as showing whichattractions or points of interest are most popular, most profitable, orthe like. The analytics facility 232 may include capabilities forundertaking a wide range of analytic techniques, including A/B testingtechniques, correlation analysis (including use of similarity matrices,such as for collaborative filtering, as well as various knownstatistical techniques), analysis based on distributions (e.g., normaldistributions), probabilistic analysis (e.g., random walk and similaralgorithms), and many others. Output and results from the analyticsfacility 232 may be used to optimize recommendations, to suggest newexperiences, to improve performance of staff, to improve selection ofinventory, to optimize patterns of traffic within a venue, to improveprofits and yield, and for many other purposes.

Recommendations of experiences or points of interest (POI) may be madebased on user's location, on estimated time for the user to travel tothe point of interest, on wait times at the point of interest, on queuelengths at the point of interest, on popularity of the experience/POI,on the user never having been to the experience/POI before, on the userhaving been to the experience/POI more than a predetermined number oftimes already (indicating that the user likes the experience/POI), onexpected weather at the point of interest, on the experience or point ofinterest being related to something that the user likes according toprofile information concerning the user, on the experience or point ofinterest being unrelated to something that the user dislikes accordingto profile information concerning the user, on the type ofexperience/POI, on an amount of time since the was last at anexperience/POI of the same type exceeding a predetermined period oftime, on inventory at the POI, or some combination thereof.Recommendations of experiences and related points of interest may bemade based on such information concerning more than one user as well, sothat when a family is traveling together, for example, the likes anddislikes of each member of the family (and other information asdiscussed above concerning each member of the family) can be taken intoaccount to find optimal recommendations of experiences and points ofinterest.

A user's experience can importantly include experience with a particularvenue, or a particular type of venue. For example, the user profile canaccumulate, and reflect, the user's experience with a theme park, withtheme parks of a particular type, with a cruise ship, with visits tolocations within venues or around the world, and the like. Among otherthings, the user experience can keep track of what a user has doneduring past visits, including capturing positive and negative ratings,so that positive past experiences can be added to an itinerary orrecommended at appropriate times during a subsequent visit, or so thatsimilar experiences can be recommended or added to an itinerary at a newvenue. The user experience can also capture information about a currentvisit, such as indicating that a user has already experienced a certainattraction, event, service, or the like, so that the EaaS platform 230can steer the user to additional experiences or re-direct the user tofavorite experiences at appropriate times.

The user profile can also account for user interests, includinginterests in particular types of dining, foods or beverages, interestsin entertainment options (such as preferences in music, dancing, magicshows, animal shows, and many others), interests in attractions (such asthrill rides, water rides, arts, fireworks, fountains, historicalinformation, and many others), interests in particular characters,people or topics, and many others. These can be used, for example, toidentify relevant attractions that are either directly responsive to theuser's interests or that have been given positive ratings by similarusers. Interests can also be inferred, such as by identifying interestsof other users who have similar characteristics.

The EaaS platform 230 may include an assembly layer 234, and anexperience generator 236. The assembly layer 234 may be used to assemblean experience, such as by assembling various components that comprisethe experience, such as content (such as messaging and communications,recommendations, and the like, including multimedia content, brandedcontent, logos, and the like that may present aspects of theexperience), entitlements (such as tickets, reservations, coupons,discounts, passes (including line skipping passes) and the like, as wellas bar codes, QR codes, or other information needed to redeem anentitlement or undertake an experience), information about goods andservices (such as packages of foods and beverages that can be ready forthe visitor upon arrival), itinerary information (such as indicatingtime and place for the experience, wait time information, and the like),directional or navigation information, pricing information, and thelike. The assembly layer 234 may include user interfaces for a humanuser to assemble an experience, such as by authoring messages, selectingelements of an experience (including by menus, by drag-and-dropinterfaces that allow the user to pull items from libraries or database,and the like), setting parameters for the experience (such as pricingand discounts, timing factors (such as how long a discount isavailable), and the like. The assembly layer 234 may also includesemi-automated, or entirely machine-based assembly of experiences. Forexample, a machine learning capability of the assembly layer may use atraining set of assembled experiences as a basis for assembling(optionally under human supervision or with human confirmation)additional experiences that are similar to the ones created in thetraining set. Over time, the machine-based experience assemblycapability may use feedback (such as based on metrics indicatingsatisfaction by visitors with assembled experiences or indicatingprofitability or per-visitor yield for experiences) to improve thecapacity of the assembly layer 234 to assembly highly effectiveexperiences. The assembly layer 234 may also embody rules, such from arules engine 245, such as to mandate certain aspects of assembly ofexperiences or to preclude certain aspects of the assembly; for example,a rule might indicate that “no experience for a minor should includealcoholic beverages” or “all experiences between noon and 2:00 p.m.should include food and beverage recommendations.” Thus, through acombination of human creation, machine-automation and application ofrules, the assembly layer 234 allows the assembly of an experience. Theexperience generator 236 may take the experience assembled by theassembly layer 234 and generate a data structure reflecting the actualexperience, such as generating a message, with appropriate codes forredemption, entitlements, and the like, for delivery such as to thevisitor's mobile device or wearable device, and/or for delivery to apoint of sale, such as for use by staff of the host.

The EaaS platform 230 can also include or connect to a physical worldcontent management system 238, which may be used to manage variouscontent that is used to design, create, assemble, deliver, and recommendexperiences, such as multimedia content from various content libraries(e.g., branded content about products and services, attractions and thelike, video content about experiences, map content, content about pointsof interest (including location data, opening hours, mapping ofinfrastructure elements, such as beacons and displays, etc.)), as wellas information about visitors (such as user profile information asdiscussed in more detail below), information about other factors thatcan impact an experience (such as weather information), informationabout a venue (such as about available infrastructure, inventory, andthe like), information about the host, information about parameters ofexperiences (such as pricing, discounts, inventory levels, wait times,restrictions, prohibitions, and the like), and many other types ofcontent. The physical world content management system 238 is describedin more detail elsewhere in this disclosure. The EaaS platform 230 mayalso include a recommendation engine 240 for recommending experiences orpoints of interest (POI) or aspects of experiences, either directly to avisitor or to personnel of a host, such as to assist in assemblingexperiences or to assist staff in guiding visitors to favorableexperiences. The recommendation engine 240 is also described in moredetail elsewhere in this disclosure. The EaaS platform 230 may alsocreate, manage, and consume information from various userprofiles/identities 242, each of which may contain various identity,demographic, psychographic, geographic, historical, transactional,relational, social, personality, or other information that may indicatea user's likely preferences, relationships (such as membership in afamily social group, business group, or other group), or the like. Inthe context herein, the term “user” may refer to a venue attendee or auser of a particular mobile/wearable device 110 and/or front-end device135. The EaaS platform 230 can further include, connect to, or integratewith a context engine 243, which may be used to determine the context ofa visitor at a given time and place, such as taking into account thevisitor's identity, the time of day, the season, the weather, thepresence or proximity of various physical world elements (such as pointsof interest, displays, and infrastructure elements), the presence orproximity of other individuals (such as members of a family or socialgroup, or the like), the visitor's history (such as recent activities ortransactions, or longer-term activities that may indicate an interest ina type of activity), a visitor's current state (such as a level ofenergy or fatigue such as indicated by past activity (such asparticipation in physical exertion during hot weather)) or by tracking(such as by a wearable activity monitor) or a current mood (such asindicated by user survey), or by an indicator (such as from aphysiological monitor or facial recognition facility), or the like, orany of a wide variety of other elements that reflect the state orcontext of the visitor. The context engine 243 may include automatedelements, such as a machine learning facility, for automaticallydetermining, or predicting, a user's context, which may optionally betrained via a human-generated training set and optimized based onfeedback, such as indicators of the actual context of a visitor orindicators of particular factors used to determine that context. Forexample, visitors might provide feedback about energy levels, mood, orinterest that may be used to refine machine-learning models that infersuch factors based on other factors, such as time of day, weather, theconsumption foods, and the like. Output from the context engine 243 maybe provided to other aspects of the EaaS platform 230, such as theassembly layer, the experience generator, the SDK, the developmentapplication, and the like, so that experiences can be created that areappropriate for the context of a particular visitor or group.

The EaaS platform 230 may also include a sales activation engine 244,which may be used to assist personnel of the host in activating sales ofgoods and services that may be offered as part of or in conjunction withan experience. The sales activation engine 244 may take data from, forexample, an inventory system, so that a user of the sales activationengine 244 may be aware of what goods and services are in stock and atwhat levels, which goods and services need to be promoted (to maintainappropriate inventory levels), which ones are most complementary to eachother and to particular experiences or aspects of experiences, whichones are most profitable, and the like. A dashboard or interface of thesales activation engine 244 may allow personnel to determine what itemsshould be promoted given the current context of a visitor, including theidentity information, location, time of day, and other information andmay suggest assembly of an overall experience that is most likely topromote sales (and a high yield or profit). For example, a person whohas just waited in a long line on a hot day to participate in a thrillride may be offered a discounted favorite cold beverage (such as basedon past beverage purposes) at nearby point of interest, packaged with arecommendation for an experience that takes place there in an airconditioned environment. Embodiments of the sales activation engine 244may include automation, including machine learning, to automate therecommendation or assembly of items for sale, such as by using atraining set that is created by human personnel and subsequentlyoptimized based on feedback metrics, such as metrics on actual sales ofgoods and services, metrics on profitability, and the like. Rules fromthe rules engine 245 may be used to govern the use of the salesactivation engine 244, such as rules prohibiting certain types of salesactivation (e.g., “do not run more than 5 sales promotions per visitorper day” or “promote item X to all visitors today”). Output from thesales activation engine 244 may include direct messages to visitorspromoting items, as well as content for the assembly layer 234, such ascontent indicating what goods or services should be packaged or promotedwith a recommended experience.

As noted, the EaaS platform 230 may make use of rules, includingbusiness rules, in various components and methods described throughoutthis disclosure. Rules, such as business rules, may be developed,maintained and distributed using the rules engine 245. Rules may be usedto govern human-performed activities, such as ones used in variousinterfaces and dashboards to create, recommend, assemble, deliver andmanage experiences, as well as to govern automated activities, such assimilar ones performed based on machine learning.

The EaaS platform 230 can also connect to a beacon system 246, which maybe associated with a location database 248, such that locations ofbeacons 246 at various points of interest in a location can be known tothe EaaS platform 230, such as for use by humans, by machine-basedautomation or combination, as a basis for knowing where points ofinterest are and where other items (including detected items, suchmobile devices, wearable devices, and the like) are relative to thepoints of interest. The location database 248 may include locations ofbeacons, points of interest, inventory items, infrastructure elements(including communications infrastructure, media infrastructure, displayinfrastructure, facilities and the like), and the like. The locationdatabase 248 may include source information for use by various layers ofthe dynamic venue map as described in detail elsewhere in thisdisclosure.

The EaaS platform 230 may also include the EaaS SDK 250, which maycomprise a set of software tools, components, modules, libraries, andthe like for using the various aspects of the EaaS platform 230, such asfor taking outputs from and providing inputs to the context engine, therules engine, the location database, the assembly layer, the experiencegenerator, the recommendation engine, and other elements. This mayinclude various interfaces and similar elements for connecting to theEaaS platform 230 and its components, including APIs, connectors,gateways, buses, bridges, message brokers, hubs and the like. The SDKmay be used to create, assemble, deliver, and manage experiences, aswell as to manage and use aspects of the EaaS platform 230.

The EaaS platform 230 can connect to and use the itineraries 228, suchas to provide experiences to be included in an itinerary and to takeitinerary information as an input, such as to determine a next messageto provide to a user. Itineraries 228 are described in more detailelsewhere in this disclosure.

The EaaS platform 230 may interact with a mobile device 220 of a visitoror personnel of a host, such as for delivering messages and othercontent, delivering entitlements, redeeming entitlements, tracking userlocation, delivering sponsored content, and the like.

The EaaS platform 230 may use and integrate the dynamic venue map 202,such as presenting the map on a user device to show the venue, to guidevisitors to experiences, to show content about points of interest, toshow offers or promotions, to show sponsored content, or the like. Thedynamic venue map 202 may also be used as an interface for experiencedevelopers, such as using the SDK or the development application, wherestaff of a host may see where a visitor is located, see nearby points ofinterest, see inventory levels and the like, to help a staff memberdetermine an experience to recommend or provide information to a visitorabout an available experience. The dynamic venue map 202 may also beused for analytics, such as showing reports on various metrics that areassociated with points of interest at a location such as numbers ofvisits, sales levels, yields per visitor, inventory levels,profitability, and many others.

The EaaS platform 230 can also connect to the location systemsinfrastructure 204, such as to obtain current location data, such as thenumber of visitors detected in proximity to points of interest, and thelike. An analytics API 256 of the EaaS platform 230 may provide accessto various data from any of the components of the platform 230 forpurposes of analytics, including the analytics facility describedelsewhere in this disclosure and third party analytics facilities thatmay use the API to obtain information from the EaaS platform 230. TheEaaS platform 230 may include a user interface, such as a corporateviewer user interface (UI) 254, which may comprise a user interface bywhich staff, such as executive staff of a host, may see data aboutvarious aspects of the EaaS platform 230, including metrics onexperiences, visitors, visits, yields, and the like.

In embodiments, the analytics API 256 can connect to the EaaS platform230. The analytics API 256 can also connect to the EaaS Platform 230through the reporting and analytics facility 232. The corporate viewerUI 254 can connect to the EaaS platform 230. In further aspects, thecorporate viewer UI 254 can connect to the EaaS Platform 230 and makeuse of the reporting and analytics module 232.

Recommendations can also include coupons and promotions, sponsoredcontent, and the like. Available experiences can be delivered byoptional push notifications or can be made available to be pulled, suchas by interactions with a dynamic venue map 202, by searching (such asusing a mobile device), or the like. Recommendations can be sent byserver 125 to a staff member or to the guest. Recommendations can beintegrated into a personalized itinerary before being sent by server 125to a staff member or to the guest, the personalized itinerary optionallyincluding other experiences or POIs besides the experiences or POIsrecommended by the EaaS platform 230. Recommendations may also be basedon similarity or dissimilarity to other experiences or POIs in thepersonalized itinerary, such as experiences or POIs that were personallyselected by the user to whom the itinerary is personalized.

FIG. 3 illustrates information flow for real-time management ofexperiences and personalized itineraries. The information flow 300 ofFIG. 3 more specifically shows connections (each optionallybidirectional) between different types and/or sources of informationthat ultimately are used to produce a personalized itinerary 302/304 fora user 320. In relation to FIG. 1, any of the sources of information 140discussed with respect to FIG. 3 may be among any of data source(s) 105identified in FIG. 1 and/or may be stored at the app server(s) 125itself.

The EaaS platform 130, in the context of FIG. 3, can create and managean itinerary 302/304 for a user. The itinerary 302 can be for a fulljourney for a user within a venue, such as from a point of origin (e.g.,at home), to one or more locations/areas/venues (such as to a series ofcities on a trip, a series of islands or ports on a cruise as in FIG. 5or FIG. 6, or the like) and points of interest or sub-venues along theway (such as theme parks, ships, aircraft, ports, stores, malls,restaurants, bars, and many others). For each venue or sub-venue, anin-venue itinerary 304 can be generated, which in examples can be ahighly personalized personal itinerary 304 that is generated based onthe user profile 330 that may identify likes and dislikes and locationhistories of a user 320, as well as based on other information, such asfrom various third party data sources 340, which can include informationabout entitlements (such as tickets the user can have already obtainedto particular attractions or events, reservations the user can havealready made, and the like), information about expressed preferences,interests, or plans, information about climate and weather, and manyother items. Third party data sources 340 may include social mediaprofiles corresponding to users/attendees 320. Third party data sources340 may be part of the personal user profile 330, though they areillustrated separately in FIG. 3.

In examples, a live experience development application 352 can be usedto generate an in-venue personal itinerary 304 for the part of theitinerary 302 that is associated with a visit to a particular venue. Inaddition to using the user profile information 330 (which, as noted inthis disclosure, can account for relationships and connections with agroup, such that an itinerary for a user can be associated with, andmanaged in connection with, a larger group itinerary) and otherinformation about the full journey itinerary 302, the in-venue personalitinerary 304 can be dynamically created and account for other factors,such as current wait times and crowds (including adjusting the itinerary304 for flow control 308, so that users within a venue are spreadsmoothly across attractions, while still satisfying personal needs andgoals).

The itinerary 304 can also be repeatedly updated based on availableassets 312 (such as what attractions are open and have reasonable waittimes in the proximity of the user at a given time), the user's currentstate (such as whether the user expresses hunger, thirst, fatigue, orthe like, or such factors are inferred based on history), informationabout the user's group (such as locations and itineraries of the group),recommendations for the user (such as described in connection with therecommendation engine, including appropriate recommendations for theimmediate time and location as well as recommendations for laterexperiences. The itineraries 302 and 304 can be delivered and updated bythe messaging engine 310, such as by text or voice messages to theuser's mobile phone or wearable device, as well as by presentation ofinformation on the live, branded, dynamic venue map. For example, anitinerary can be shown on a map with the current location and currentlyrecommended item highlighted (such as in a color, with flashing symbols,or the like), and one or more alternative future recommendations shown,with routing information (including alternative available routes anditineraries) for the user.

The itinerary can show optional items as well as mandatory items (suchas the designated meetup location for a group). The EaaS platform 130,such as using the live experience development application 352 orautomatically, such as by machine learning, can constantly update theitinerary, such as accounting for changes. Changes can include the userhaving more time, because an attraction took less time than expected, orvice versa, or the user deciding to take a different route or dosomething different than was previously anticipated in the itinerary306. Changes can include changes in the inventory of tickets, goods,services, or the like near the user's location or at other locationsthat are later in the itinerary. Changes can include changes in waittimes. Changes can include changes in the user's state, such as becomingtired, hungry, thirsty, or bored. Changes can include changes initineraries for the user's group, changes in locations for members ofthe group, or the like. In each case, updated information can be used tosuggest a new itinerary that accounts for the current state of the userand the venue.

In many aspects, the EaaS platform 130 can track completion ofexperiences for an itinerary, such as by receiving location signals(such as an indication that a user's mobile phone or wearable device hasentered the proximity of a beacon that is positioned at a point ofinterest), by receiving evidence of redemption of entitlements (such asredemption of tickets, including electronic tickets, or redemption ofcredits, such as stored on a mobile device or wearable), and receivingevidence of purchases or consumption (such as indicated by transactiondata or other information from points of purchase located within avenue). Completed experiences can be recorded on the itinerary,prompting directions (such as messages or elements on a map, such asrouting information) for the next itinerary item, allowing theprogression through a series of locations, points of interest and thelike on the itinerary. As noted, changes in the venue, in the user'sstate, and other factors can lead to changes in the itinerary, which canbe managed automatically in the platform, can be managed by the user(such as by setting or approving items on the user's mobile phone), andcan be managed for the user by the experience provider, such as usingthe live experience development application 352.

In an example, a father and son are visiting a theme park. The liveexperience development application 352 is used to generate a fulljourney personal itinerary 302 for the father to follow during thevisit. The full journey personal itinerary 302 includes recommendationsbased on the personal user profiles 330 of the father and of the son.

For example, the personal user profiles 330 of the father and of the sonindicate the father-son relationship. The personal user profile 330 ofthe son indicates the son prefers to ride roller coasters, ride Ferriswheels and eat pizza. The personal user profile 330 of the fatherindicates the father has no ride preferences and prefers healthy eatingoptions.

The full journey personal itinerary 302 is also developed using datafrom third party data sources 340. For example, the father would like tominimize the cost of the trip and asked a question on a social networkabout how to minimize costs during a trip to a theme park. This questionis used to signal to the live experience development application 352 toinclude special deals and offers in the full journey personal itinerary302. Such information may alternately be included in the father's userprofile.

When in a group, all of this information concerning both the father andthe son may be used to generate recommendations for experiences and/orpoints of interest (POIs). For example, the son's preference for pizzaand the father's preference for healthy eating options may result in arecommendation for a restaurant that provides both pizza and healthyeating options. The son's preference for roller coasters and ferriswheels combined with the father's preference for minimizing costs of thetrip may result in a recommendation for the lowest-cost roller coasteror ferris wheel rides. This may be combined with locations of the fatherand son so as to recommend POIs that are near both the father and theson or along a route that they are known to be using based on other POIs(such as self-selected POIs) in their group itinerary or separaterespective itineraries.

FIG. 4 illustrates a dynamic live venue map identifying a personalizeditinerary in a theme park venue. The dynamic live venue map 400 of FIG.4 may be one implementation of a dynamic venue map 202 as discussed withrespect to FIG. 2 and/or a personalized itinerary 302/304 as discussedwith respect to FIG. 3.

Available assets 312 in the context of FIG. 4 indicate there are tworoller coasters (roller coaster A 402 and roller coaster B 404), aFerris wheel 406, a healthy eating restaurant 408, a theme park entrance412, and a parking lot 410 available at the theme park. The user'slocation 450 is marked on the map, with a solid line indicating that theuser has traveled from the parking lot 410 to the theme park entrance412 and is now standing between the theme park entrance 412 and theFerris wheel 406. The Ferris wheel 406, the healthy eating restaurant408 (optionally if the user is hungry as marked using a dashed box), andthe Roller coaster A 402 are included on the full journey personalitinerary 302 of FIG. 4. Available inventory 314 indicates theingredients for salads at a healthy eating restaurant 408 are nearingthe end of their shelf life, and this inventory information can be acomponent in recommending or not recommending the healthy eatingrestaurant 408. The healthy eating restaurant 408 is also included onthe full journey personal itinerary 302 of FIG. 4 for at least thisreason.

Presentation layer development can include the use of a dynamic/livevenue map 400. The dynamic/live venue map 400 can include point ofinterest (POI) locations 404, 402, 406, 408, 410, 412, which can bedynamically updated based on changes occurring within a venue or managedlocation. In many aspects, wait time can be an example of point ofinterest data or metadata associated with a location or point on thedynamic map. By way of this example, the point of interest data or mappoint metadata for one or more destinations can be pulled and updatedamong the users. In these examples, the point of interest data or mappoint metadata can include menu data for the restaurant, wait times formany points of interest at a managed location, or the like.

The personalized itinerary map of FIG. 4 may include recommendations forand based on two users, to relate FIG. 4 back to the father/son examplediscussed with respect to FIG. 3. The full journey personal itinerary302 is sent prior to the visit via the messaging engine 310 to thevisitor device/wearable 110 of the father, which is acting as afront-end device 135 in the context of FIG. 1. The full journey personalitinerary 302 can stretch back before arrival at the venue (the themepark) to also include directions to the theme park from the father's andson's home, as well as parking information. Parking information isupdated based on the available inventory 314 of parking. This guides thefather and son to an available parking lot 410, minimizing time theyhave to spend searching for an available parking space.

The EaaS platform 130 detects when the father and son enter the themepark, by detecting that a beacon on the mobile phone of the father hasentered the boundaries of the theme park. An in-venue personal itinerary304 is sent to the mobile phone of the father when the EaaS platform 130detects the father and son have entered the theme park.

The in-venue personal itinerary 304 includes a dynamic/live venue map400. In this example, roller coaster A 402, roller coaster B 404, Ferriswheel 406 and healthy eating restaurant 408 are displayed as POIlocations on the dynamic/live venue map 400.

The in-venue personal itinerary 304 suggests that the father and sonride roller coaster A 402 first, since roller coaster A is located closeto the theme park entrance 412. Because it is before noon, the in-venuepersonal itinerary 304 suggests the father and son ride roller coaster B404 second, before having lunch.

After riding roller coaster A 402, the father indicates in his userstate (which may be part of the user profile information) that thefather and son are hungry. Alternately, the EaaS platform may deducethat the father and son are likely hungry based on a time since theywere last at a food establishment exceeding a predetermined amount oftime (e.g, 3 hours). Based on this indication, a healthy eatingrestaurant 408 located in close proximity to the exit of Ferris Wheel406 is displayed as a dynamic map location 408 on dynamic/live venue map400.

The healthy eating restaurant 408 also serves salads. Because theingredients used to make salads are near the end of their shelf life, abuy-one-get-one-free salad offer is generated. Healthy eating restaurant408 is then highlighted on the dynamic/live venue map 400, indicating adeal on salads is available. The father chooses the healthy eatingrestaurant 408 for him and his son to have lunch and orders salads forboth of them, redeeming the buy-one-get-one-free salad offer.

In one example, the father and son may have had plans to ride rollercoaster B 404 after lunch. The EaaS platform 130 used wait time data orqueue length data from information 140 (as discussed with respect toFIG. 1) to detect that wait time at the Roller Coaster A 402 was short(or zero), while wait time at roller coaster B 404 was significant(e.g., exceeding a predetermined duration of time), indicating a shorterline at the Roller Coaster A 402 than at the Roller Coaster B 404, asthe father and son were finishing lunch. As the father and son werefinishing lunch, the dynamic map location of the Roller Coaster A 402 onthe dynamic/live venue map 400 turned green, indicating there was noline at the Roller Coaster A 402. Since there was no line at the Ferriswheel 406, the father and son decided to ride the Roller Coaster A 402after lunch, rather than ride roller coaster B 404.

With reference to FIG. 2, the present teachings generally include realtime management of highly personalized experiences of customers, theirfamilies, traveling companions or the like. The real time management ofhighly personalized experiences at managed locations can be integratedinto many of the operations and offerings at the managed locations. Theoperations and offerings at the managed locations can include events andentertainment offerings, but also includes fare offered by the location,and transport to and from the managed locations. With regard totransport to and from the managed locations, the real time management ofhighly personalized experiences of customers can coordinate the managedlocation to guide patrons to proper surface parking, garages, parkingtrams, or other forms of transportation that can be used.

The real time management of highly personalized experiences of customerscan connect to the computing devices of the customers and their familymembers, as well as computing devices of the host and its personnel,including staff at the venue and personal located remote from the venue.The computing devices can include phones, tablets, watches, wearabledevices (including ones dedicated to use at the venue), augmentedreality or virtual reality glasses, as well as laptop and desktopcomputers, servers, and the like. In connecting to the computing devicesof customers, cellular network and cloud network facilities can beemployed to ensure interconnection. The real time management of highlypersonalized experiences of customers can also connect with sponsors(such as advertisers) so as to be able to provide sponsored content tothe customers at the managed locations. The sponsored content can berelated in real-time to what is occurring with the user and/or thefamily of the user, their itinerary, the time of day and many factorsrelating to placement of sponsored content.

FIG. 5 illustrates a recommended itinerary map interface for a singleuser. The recommended itinerary map interface 500 of FIG. 5 may be oneimplementation of a dynamic venue map 202 as discussed with respect toFIG. 2 and/or a personalized itinerary 302/304 as discussed with respectto FIG. 3. In particular, the recommended itinerary map interface 500 ofFIG. 5 maps a personalized itinerary including recommended POIs anduser-selected POIs for a user “Matt” within a map 590 of a venueselected to be Eastern North America.

The recommended itinerary map interface 500 of FIG. 5 identifies a pastPOI 505 as the port of New York, which the user “Matt” was atpreviously. A first recommended POI 510 is provided by the EaaS platform230 as “Cruiseline Burger Grill.” The recommended POI 510 is recommendedbased on its location being along an existing route (from the user'scurrent location 530 to selected POI 515) and based on similarity tosomething that the user “Matt” likes according to his user profile(“Ike's Sadwiches”). A second POI 515 along the personalized itineraryis user-selected—Flamenco Beach in Culebra. A third POI 520 along thepersonalized itinerary is recommended by the EaaS platform 230 as “MiamiSurf Lessons” based on its location being along an existing route (fromthe user-selected POI 515 back to the port of New York 505) and based onsimilarity to the user-selected POI 515 (Flamenco Beach in Culebra) inthat both POIs are related to surfing.

The resulting map interface 500 illustrates a journey line 580representing a path connecting the POIs 505, 510, 515, 520, and back to505, the journey line 580 also connecting the current location 530 ofthe user. In some cases, a path 580 may be somewhat pre-set, as in apre-set cruise, in which case recommended POIs may be recommendedbecause they are along that path 580 and one or more additional reasons,such as similarity to “likes” of the user or dissimilarity to “dislikes”of the user or any of the other reasons identified above.

FIG. 6 illustrates a recommended itinerary map interface for two users.The recommended itinerary map interface 600 of FIG. 6 may be oneimplementation of a dynamic venue map 202 as discussed with respect toFIG. 2 and/or a personalized itinerary 302/304 as discussed with respectto FIG. 3. In particular, the recommended itinerary map interface 600 ofFIG. 6 maps a personalized itinerary including recommended POIs anduser-selected POIs for two users “Matt” and “Sam” within a map 690 of avenue selected to be Eastern North America.

The recommended itinerary map interface 600 of FIG. 6 identifies a pastPOI 605 as the port of New York, which the users “Matt” and “Sam” wereboth at previously. A first recommended POI 610 is provided by the EaaSplatform 230 as “Cruiseline Burger Grill.” The recommended POI 610 isrecommended based on its location being along an existing route (fromthe current location of both users 630 to selected POI 615) and based ondissimilarity to something that both users (“Matt” and “Sam”) dislikeaccording to their respective user profiles (sushi). A second POI 615along the personalized itinerary is user-selected—Flamenco Beach inCulebra. A third POI 620 along the personalized itinerary is recommendedby the EaaS platform 230 as “Miami Surf Lessons” based on its locationbeing along an existing route (from the user-selected POI 615 back tothe port of New York 605) and based on similarity to something that bothusers (“Matt” and “Sam”) like according to their respective userprofiles (sports).

While the recommended itinerary map interfaces 400, 500, 600, and 1000of FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, and FIG. 10 respectively, are all maps, itshould be understood that a personalized itinerary can take the form ofa list of POIs, either in order of when they should be visited or in adifferent order.

The resulting map interface 600 illustrates a journey line 680representing a path connecting the POIs 605, 610, 615, 620, and back to605, the journey line 680 also connecting the current location 630 ofthe users. In some cases, a path 680 may be somewhat pre-set, as in apre-set cruise, in which case recommended POIs may be recommendedbecause they are along that path 680 and one or more additional reasons,such as similarity to “likes” of one or more of the users ordissimilarity to “dislikes” of one or more of the users or any of theother reasons identified above.

FIG. 7 illustrates delivery of itinerary personalization to users.

With reference to FIG. 7, the present teachings generally include realtime management of highly personalized experiences of customers, theirfamilies, traveling companions or the like. The real time management ofhighly personalized experiences at managed locations can be integratedinto many of the operations and offerings at the managed locations. Theoperations and offerings at the managed locations can include events andentertainment offerings, but also includes fare offered by the location,and transport to and from the managed locations. With regard totransport to and from the managed locations, the real time management ofhighly personalized experiences of customers can coordinate the managedlocation to guide patrons to proper surface parking, garages, parkingtrams, or other forms of transportation that can be used.

The real time management of highly personalized experiences of customerscan connect to the computing devices of the customers and their familymembers, as well as computing devices of the host and its personnel,including staff at the venue and personal located remote from the venue.The computing devices can include phones, tablets, watches, wearabledevices (including ones dedicated to use at the venue), augmentedreality or virtual reality glasses, as well as laptop and desktopcomputers, servers, and the like. In connecting to the computing devicesof customers, cellular network and cloud network facilities can beemployed to ensure interconnection. The real time management of highlypersonalized experiences of customers can also connect with sponsors(such as advertisers) so as to be able to provide sponsored content tothe customers at the managed locations. The sponsored content can berelated in real-time to what is occurring with the user and/or thefamily of the user, their itinerary, the time of day and many factorsrelating to placement of sponsored content.

In short, the personalized itineraries 302/304 or maps 202 discussedherein may include recommended POIs based on any of the informationdiscussed in FIG. 7, including for example information concerningtransportation method, availability of rides using differenttransportation methods, scheduled events, campus entertainment, food andvending services inventory, location, wait times, parking locations andavailability, open parking space information, coordination with venuetransport, proximity to event location, vehicle and/or user and/ormobile device location, local relevant traffic information, advertisingcontent directed to customer or activity or event, sponsored POIs.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary computing system 800 that may be used toimplement some aspects of the subject technology. For example, any ofthe computing devices, computing systems, network devices, networksystems, servers, and/or arrangements of circuitry described herein mayinclude at least one computing system 800, or may include at least onecomponent of the computer system 800 identified in FIG. 8. The computingsystem 800 of FIG. 8 includes one or more processors 810 and memory 820.Each of the processor(s) 810 may refer to one or more processors,controllers, microcontrollers, central processing units (CPUs), graphicsprocessing units (GPUs), arithmetic logic units (ALUs), acceleratedprocessing units (APUs), digital signal processors (DSPs), applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays(FPGAs), or combinations thereof. Each of the processor(s) 810 mayinclude one or more cores, either integrated onto a single chip orspread across multiple chips connected or coupled together. Memory 820stores, in part, instructions and data for execution by processor 810.Memory 820 can store the executable code when in operation. The system800 of FIG. 8 further includes a mass storage device 830, portablestorage medium drive(s) 840, output devices 850, user input devices 860,a graphics display 870, and peripheral devices 880.

The components shown in FIG. 8 are depicted as being connected via asingle bus 890. However, the components may be connected through one ormore data transport means. For example, processor unit 810 and memory820 may be connected via a local microprocessor bus, and the massstorage device 830, peripheral device(s) 880, portable storage device840, and display system 870 may be connected via one or moreinput/output (I/O) buses.

Mass storage device 830, which may be implemented with a magnetic diskdrive or an optical disk drive, is a non-volatile storage device forstoring data and instructions for use by processor unit 810. Massstorage device 830 can store the system software for implementing someaspects of the subject technology for purposes of loading that softwareinto memory 820.

Portable storage device 840 operates in conjunction with a portablenon-volatile storage medium, such as a floppy disk, compact disk orDigital video disc, to input and output data and code to and from thecomputer system 800 of FIG. 8. The system software for implementingaspects of the subject technology may be stored on such a portablemedium and input to the computer system 800 via the portable storagedevice 840.

The memory 820, mass storage device 830, or portable storage 840 may insome cases store sensitive information, such as transaction information,health information, or cryptographic keys, and may in some cases encryptor decrypt such information with the aid of the processor 810. Thememory 820, mass storage device 830, or portable storage 840 may in somecases store, at least in part, instructions, executable code, or otherdata for execution or processing by the processor 810.

Output devices 850 may include, for example, communication circuitry foroutputting data through wired or wireless means, display circuitry fordisplaying data via a display screen, audio circuitry for outputtingaudio via headphones or a speaker, printer circuitry for printing datavia a printer, or some combination thereof. The display screen may beany type of display discussed with respect to the display system 870.The printer may be inkjet, laserjet, thermal, or some combinationthereof. In some cases, the output device circuitry 850 may allow fortransmission of data over an audio jack/plug, a microphone jack/plug, auniversal serial bus (USB) port/plug, an Apple® Lightning® port/plug, anEthernet port/plug, a fiber optic port/plug, a proprietary wiredport/plug, a BLUETOOTH® wireless signal transfer, a BLUETOOTH® lowenergy (BLE) wireless signal transfer, a radio-frequency identification(RFID) wireless signal transfer, near-field communications (NFC)wireless signal transfer, 802.11 Wi-Fi wireless signal transfer,cellular data network wireless signal transfer, a radio wave signaltransfer, a microwave signal transfer, an infrared signal transfer, avisible light signal transfer, an ultraviolet signal transfer, awireless signal transfer along the electromagnetic spectrum, or somecombination thereof. Output devices 850 may include any ports, plugs,antennae, wired or wireless transmitters, wired or wirelesstransceivers, or any other components necessary for or usable toimplement the communication types listed above, such as cellularSubscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards.

Input devices 860 may include circuitry providing a portion of a userinterface. Input devices 860 may include an alpha-numeric keypad, suchas a keyboard, for inputting alpha-numeric and other information, or apointing device, such as a mouse, a trackball, stylus, or cursordirection keys. Input devices 860 may include touch-sensitive surfacesas well, either integrated with a display as in a touchscreen, orseparate from a display as in a trackpad. Touch-sensitive surfaces mayin some cases detect localized variable pressure or force detection. Insome cases, the input device circuitry may allow for receipt of dataover an audio jack, a microphone jack, a universal serial bus (USB)port/plug, an Apple® Lightning® port/plug, an Ethernet port/plug, afiber optic port/plug, a proprietary wired port/plug, a BLUETOOTH®wireless signal transfer, a BLUETOOTH® low energy (BLE) wireless signaltransfer, a radio-frequency identification (RFID) wireless signaltransfer, near-field communications (NFC) wireless signal transfer,802.11 Wi-Fi wireless signal transfer, cellular data network wirelesssignal transfer, a radio wave signal transfer, a microwave signaltransfer, an infrared signal transfer, a visible light signal transfer,an ultraviolet signal transfer, a wireless signal transfer along theelectromagnetic spectrum, or some combination thereof. Input devices 860may include any ports, plugs, antennae, wired or wireless receivers,wired or wireless transceivers, or any other components necessary for orusable to implement the communication types listed above, such ascellular SIM cards.

Display system 870 may include a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasmadisplay, an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, an electronicink or “e-paper” display, a projector-based display, a holographicdisplay, or another suitable display device. Display system 870 receivestextual and graphical information, and processes the information foroutput to the display device. The display system 870 may includemultiple-touch touchscreen input capabilities, such as capacitive touchdetection, resistive touch detection, surface acoustic wave touchdetection, or infrared touch detection. Such touchscreen inputcapabilities may or may not allow for variable pressure or forcedetection.

Peripherals 880 may include any type of computer support device to addadditional functionality to the computer system. For example, peripheraldevice(s) 880 may include a modem, a router, an antenna, a printer, abar code scanner, a quick-response (“QR”) code scanner, a document/imagescanner, a visible light camera, a thermal/infrared camera, anultraviolet-sensitive camera, a night vision camera, a light sensor, abattery, a power source, or some combination thereof.

The components contained in the computer system 800 of FIG. 8 are thosetypically found in computer systems that may be suitable for use withsome aspects of the subject technology and are intended to represent abroad category of such computer components that are well known in theart. Thus, the computer system 800 of FIG. 8 can be a personal computer,a hand held computing device, a telephone (“smart” or otherwise), amobile computing device, a workstation, a server (on a server rack orotherwise), a minicomputer, a mainframe computer, a tablet computingdevice, a wearable device (such as a watch, a ring, a pair of glasses,or another type of jewelry/clothing/accessory), a video game console(portable or otherwise), an e-book reader, a media player device(portable or otherwise), a vehicle-based computer, some combinationthereof, or any other computing device. The computer system 800 may insome cases be a virtual computer system executed by another computersystem. The computer can also include different bus configurations,networked platforms, multi-processor platforms, etc. Various operatingsystems can be used including Unix, Linux, Windows, Macintosh OS, PalmOS, Android, iOS, and other suitable operating systems.

In some cases, the computer system 800 may be part of a multi-computersystem that uses multiple computer systems 800, each for one or morespecific tasks or purposes. For example, the multi-computer system mayinclude multiple computer systems 800 communicatively coupled togethervia at least one of a personal area network (PAN), a local area network(LAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a municipal area network(MAN), a wide area network (WAN), or some combination thereof. Themulti-computer system may further include multiple computer systems 800from different networks communicatively coupled together via theinternet (also known as a “distributed” system).

Some aspects of the subject technology may be implemented in anapplication that may be operable using a variety of devices.Non-transitory computer-readable storage media refer to any medium ormedia that participate in providing instructions to a central processingunit (CPU) for execution and that may be used in the memory 820, themass storage 830, the portable storage 840, or some combination thereof.Such media can take many forms, including, but not limited to,non-volatile and volatile media such as optical or magnetic disks anddynamic memory, respectively. Some forms of non-transitorycomputer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexibledisk, a hard disk, magnetic tape, a magnetic strip/stripe, any othermagnetic storage medium, flash memory, memristor memory, any othersolid-state memory, a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM) opticaldisc, a rewritable compact disc (CD) optical disc, digital video disk(DVD) optical disc, a blu-ray disc (BDD) optical disc, a holographicoptical disk, another optical medium, a secure digital (SD) card, amicro secure digital (microSD) card, a Memory Stick® card, a smartcardchip, a Europay®/Mastercard®/Visa® (EMV) chip, a subscriber identitymodule (SIM) card, a mini/micro/nano/pico SIM card, another integratedcircuit (IC) chip/card, random access memory (RAM), static RAM (SRAM),dynamic RAM (DRAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-onlymemory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flashEPROM (FLASHEPROM), cache memory (L1/L2/L3/L4/L5/L8), resistiverandom-access memory (RRAM/ReRAM), phase change memory (PCM), spintransfer torque RAM (STT-RAM), another memory chip or cartridge, or acombination thereof.

Various forms of transmission media may be involved in carrying one ormore sequences of one or more instructions to a processor 810 forexecution. A bus 890 carries the data to system RAM or another memory820, from which a processor 810 retrieves and executes the instructions.The instructions received by system RAM or another memory 820 canoptionally be stored on a fixed disk (mass storage device 830/portablestorage 840) either before or after execution by processor 810. Variousforms of storage may likewise be implemented as well as the necessarynetwork interfaces and network topologies to implement the same.

FIG. 9 illustrates identification of a venue attendee who is headed inan incorrect direction.

The dynamic venue map 900 of FIG. 9 illustrates three points ofinterest—a first castle-themed point of interest 910 with acorresponding queue 915 having 200 people, a second casino-themed pointof interest 920 with a corresponding queue 925 having 100 people, and athird space-themed point of interest 930 with a corresponding queue 935having 400 people.

The dynamic venue map 900 of FIG. 9 also illustrates a venue attendee950, a first staff member 940 close to the venue attendee 940, and asecond staff member 945 who is further from the venue attendee than thefirst staff member 940 is.

The EaaS platform 230/app server 125 retrieves locations for each ofthese individuals and points of interest, with the locations of thevenue attendee 950 and the two staff members 940/945 received frommobile devices associated with each of those individuals, respectively.The locations of the points of interest may be retrieved from such asdatabases or other data structures in a local memory of the EaaSplatform 230/app server 125, databases or other data structures storedby network servers accessible via local area network (LAN) by the EaaSplatform 230/app server 125, databases or other data structures storedby remote servers accessible via the internet by the EaaS platform230/app server 125, or combinations thereof.

The EaaS platform 230/app server 125 generates a current path 965 of thevenue attendee 950, for example estimated/extrapolated based on the lastfew locations received of the mobile device associated with the venueattendee. The EaaS platform 230/app server 125 can also receivetimestamps associated with those last few locations, and in doing so,the EaaS platform 230/app server 125 can also estimate a movement speedof the venue attendee.

The EaaS platform 230/app server 125 can retrieve an itinerary of thevenue attendee. The itinerary can be stored at and retrieved from themobile device associated with the venue attendee, stored at andretrieved from a local memory of the EaaS platform 230/app server 125,stored at and retrieved from network servers accessible via local areanetwork (LAN) by the EaaS platform 230/app server 125, stored at andretrieved from remote servers accessible via the internet by the EaaSplatform 230/app server 125, or combinations thereof. The itineraryidentifies various points of interest that the venue attendee plans tovisit, and optionally identifies dates and/or times at which the venueattendee plans to visit those points of interest.

At least some of the points of interests, dates, and/or times in theitinerary may be selected by the venue attendee himself/herself. Atleast some of the points of interests, dates, and/or times in theitinerary may be generated by the EaaS platform 230/app server 125 asrecommendations to the venue attendee based on a user profile 330 andvarious traits, likes, dislikes, allergies, and so forth of the venueattendee as determined by the EaaS platform 230/app server 125 and asdiscussed earlier herein with respect to the EaaS platform 230,recommendation engine 230, and itineraries 228 of FIG. 2 as well as thepersonal user profile 330, live experience development application 352,in-venue personal itinerary 304, and fill journey personal itinerary 302of FIG. 3.

The EaaS platform 230/app server 125 identifies a point of interest thatappears to be “up next” for the venue attendee 950 based on the currentdate and time in comparison with a date and time associated with thatpoint of interest on the itinerary. That is, the EaaS platform 230/appserver 125 identifies the point of interest that the venue attendee 950should be heading toward if the venue attendee 950 wishes to arrive atthe point of interest by date and time associated with that point ofinterest on the itinerary, and generates a suggested path 960 towardthat point of interest. The suggested path 960 may be a straight linetoward the point of interest as illustrated in FIG. 9, or may be acurved path generated using an artificial-intelligence-based pathfindingalgorithm or navigation algorithm that avoids walls, bodies of water,and the like. Examples of pathfinding algorithms usable for this includethe A* search algorithm, Dijkstra's algorithm, D* incremental heuristicsearch algorithms, general heuristic search algorithms, any-angle pathplanning algorithms, multi-agent pathfinding algorithms, or combinationsthereof.

The EaaS platform 230/app server 125 compares the suggested path 960 tothe current path 965 of the venue attendee 950. If the suggested path960 and current path 965 are substantially aligned or similar, then thevenue attendee 950 is heading in the right direction and likely does notneed assistance. However, if the suggested path 960 and current path 965diverge or have a dissimilarity, then the venue attendee 950 may fail toreach the point of interest at the date and/or time specified in theitinerary. To remedy this, the EaaS platform 230/app server 125automatically sends an alert to mobile device(s) associated with one ormore nearby staff members 940/945 in response to identifying thedivergence or dissimilarity between the suggested path 960 and currentpath 965, the alert identifying at least the venue attendee 950 whoshould be guided toward the suggested path 960, and optimally alsoidentifying the location of the mobile device associated with the venueattendee 950, the locations of mobile device(s) associated with thestaff member 940 and/or staff member 945, the locations of one or moreof the points of interest 910/920/930, the current path 965 andsuggested path 960 of the venue attendee 950, sizes of queues915/925/935, or any other information depicted in the dynamic venue map900. In fact, the alert may include data allowing a mobile device torender the dynamic venue map 900, such as the dynamic venue map 900itself or a hyperlink to a web page with the dynamic venue map 900embedded. This alert may alternatively or additionally be sent to themobile device associated with the venue attendee 950 to try to allow thevenue attendee 950 to correct his or her own path without assistancefrom any staff members.

To compare the suggested path 960 with the current path 965, the EaaSplatform 230/app server 125 compares an angle of a heading of thesuggested path 960 with an angle of a heading of the current path 965.Each heading's angle may be expressed as a specific geospatialdirection, such as north, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest,west, northwest, or specific headings in between any of these. Eachheading's angle may be expressed as an angle in degrees or radiansrelative to a specific geospatial direction—for example, N degrees or Nradians from a geospatial direction such as north, northeast, east,southeast, south, southwest, west, or northwest, where N is a numericalvalue. Each heading's angle may be expressed as a specific direction onthe map 900, such as up, up-right, right, down-right, down, down-left,left, up-left, or specific headings in between any of these. Eachheading's angle may be expressed as an angle in degrees or radiansrelative to a specific direction on the map 900—for example, N degreesor N radians from a specific direction on the map 900 such as up,up-right, right, down-right, down, down-left, left, or up-left, where Nis a numerical value.

The suggested path 960 and current path 965 can be considered to besubstantially aligned or similar if, for example, an angle betweenheading of the suggested path 960 for the venue attendee 950 and aheading of the current path 965 of the venue attendee 950 differ by lessthan a predetermined threshold angle value, such as 90 degrees. Incontrast, the suggested path 960 and current path 965 can be consideredto diverge or have a dissimilarity if, for example, an angle betweenheading of the suggested path 960 for the venue attendee 950 and aheading of the current path 965 of the venue attendee 950 differs bymore than a predetermined threshold angle value, such as 90 degrees. Inshort, this tests whether the current path 965 deviates from thesuggested path 960 enough to warrant intervention.

Alternately, the suggested path 960 and current path 965 can beconsidered to be substantially aligned or similar if, for example, afirst angle between the heading of the current path 965 and the headingof the suggested path 960 is smaller than a second angle between theheading of the current path 965 and the heading of a second suggestedpath (not pictured) leading to a different point of interest, such aspoint of interest 920 or 930. In contrast, the suggested path 960 andcurrent path 965 can be considered to diverge or have a dissimilarityif, for example, a first angle between the heading of the current path965 and the heading of the suggested path 960 is smaller than a secondangle between the heading of the current path 965 and the heading of asecond suggested path (not pictured) leading to a different point ofinterest, such as point of interest 920 or 930. In short, this testswhether the current path 965 appears to be heading mistakenly toward thewrong point of interest.

The alert and/or dynamic venue map 900 may include more information thanis illustrated in FIG. 9. For example, while the dynamic venue map 900of FIG. 9 focuses solely on a single venue attendee 950, a similardynamic venue map may illustrate multiple venue attendees, withlocations, suggested paths, and/or current paths for each venueattendee. The alert/dynamic venue map may also include the itinerariesof the various venue attendees themselves. The alert may also includethe information from such a dynamic venue map or from such itinerariesin forms other than the dynamic venue map, such as a text document, aspreadsheet, or a database. The alert and/or dynamic venue map 900 mayidentify each an occupation for each staff member, such as janitor,engineer, doctor, security guard, and the like, so that a staff membercan know where any particular type of staff member is if a specific needis raised during the course of an interaction between the staff memberand the venue attendee, such as a medical emergency (suggesting a doctoris needed) or a rowdy venue attendee (suggesting a security guard isneeded). The alert and/or dynamic venue map 900 may identify types ofpoint of interest, such as theme park rides, rollercoasters,restaurants, cafes, bars, restrooms, churches, airports, ports, parkinglots, or any other type discussed herein. The alert and/or dynamic venuemap 900 may make calls to the EaaS platform 230/app server 125 togenerate or identify directions to any point of interest in the venuearea. The alert and/or dynamic venue map 900 may identify similaritiesor dissimilarities between different venue attendees, and may identifywhich venue attendees are part of a single family or otherwise part of asingle group, to help assist groups of venue attendees who have lostcontact with one or more members of the group.

The EaaS platform 230/app server 125 may select whose mobile device tosend the alert to based in part on location. For example, the EaaSplatform 230/app server 125 can send the alert to the mobile device(s)associated with the closest N staff members to the location of the venueattendee 950 (or the location of the mobile device associated with thevenue attendee 950), wherein N is an integer value that is greater thanzero, such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so forth. The EaaS platform 230/appserver 125 can send the alert to the venue attendee himself or herself.The EaaS platform 230/app server 125 can send the alert to the mobiledevice(s) associated with the closest N staff members to the location ofthe point of interest 910 in the itinerary of the venue attendee 950wherein N is again an integer value that is greater than zero, such as1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so forth.

The EaaS platform 230/app server 125 may determine whether or not tosend the alert at all based on the date and/or time associated with thepoint of interest in the itinerary. If there venue attendee has twohours to walk to the point of interest 910 before the time associatedwith the point of interest in the itinerary occurs, and the suggestedpath 960 is estimated to be a 15 minute walk—then the alert need not besent yet. However, if the estimated travel time along suggested path 960is less than a difference between the time associated with the point ofinterest in the itinerary and the current time by less than apredetermined threshold amount of time (e.g., 5 minutes or 10 minutes),then the alert should be sent, because the venue attendee 950 has verylittle time to get to the point of interest 910 before the timeassociated with the point of interest in the itinerary occurs. Thisprevents issues with late attendees to points of interest.

While various flow diagrams provided and described above may show aparticular order of operations performed by some embodiments of thesubject technology, it should be understood that such order isexemplary. Alternative embodiments may perform the operations in adifferent order, combine certain operations, overlap certain operations,or some combination thereof.

The foregoing detailed description of the technology has been presentedfor purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the technology to the precise form disclosed.Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteaching. The described embodiments were chosen in order to best explainthe principles of the technology, its practical application, and toenable others skilled in the art to utilize the technology in variousembodiments and with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of thetechnology be defined by the claim.

While the foregoing written description enables one skilled in the artto make and use what is considered presently to be the best modethereof, those skilled in the art will appreciate in light of thedisclosure that the existence of variations, combinations, andequivalents of the specific aspects, embodiments, structures, modules,methods, and examples herein. The disclosure should therefore not belimited by the above described examples, but by all aspects of thepresent teachings within the scope and spirit of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for assisting a venue staff member inproviding guidance within a predetermined venue area, the methodcomprising: receiving, from a mobile device associated with the venuestaff member, a location of the mobile device associated with the venuestaff member; receiving, from a mobile device associated with a venueattendee, a location of the mobile device associated with the venueattendee; retrieving an itinerary associated with the venue attendee,the itinerary identifying a point of interest; generating a suggestedpath for the venue attendee from the location of the mobile deviceassociated with the venue attendee to a location of the point ofinterest identified by the itinerary; generating a current path of thevenue attendee based on the location of the mobile device associatedwith the venue attendee and one or more past locations of the mobiledevice associated with the venue attendee; identifying a dissimilaritybetween the suggested path for the venue attendee and the current pathof the venue attendee; and sending an alert to the mobile deviceassociated with the venue staff member automatically in response toidentifying the dissimilarity, the alert identifying at least the venueattendee and the point of interest.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinidentifying the dissimilarity between the suggested path for the venueattendee and the current path of the venue attendee includes identifyingthat an angle between a heading of the suggested path for the venueattendee and a heading of the current path of the venue attendee isgreater than a predetermined angle value.
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving a selection of the point of interest fromthe mobile device associated with the venue attendee; and generating theitinerary associated with the venue attendee.
 4. The method of claim 1,further comprising: retrieving profile information identifying one ormore traits of the venue attendee; retrieving point of interestinformation identifying one or more traits of each of a plurality ofpoints of interest located within the predetermined venue area, theplurality of points of interest including the point of interest;generating a recommendation recommending the point of interest to thevenue attendee based on a comparison between the profile information andthe point of interest information; and generating the itineraryassociated with the venue attendee.
 5. The method of claim 4, whereinthe comparison between the profile information and the point of interestinformation indicates that the location of the point of interest appearsin a location history associated with the venue attendee at least apredetermined number of times.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein thecomparison between the profile information and the point of interestinformation indicates that the location of the point of interest ismissing from a location history associated with the venue attendee. 7.The method of claim 4, wherein the comparison between the profileinformation and the point of interest information indicates that thevenue attendee previously provided a rating of the point of interest,wherein the rating exceeds a predetermined rating value.
 8. The methodof claim 4, wherein the comparison between the profile information andthe point of interest information indicates that the point of interestprovides a type of food that the venue attendee prefers.
 9. The methodof claim 4, wherein the comparison between the profile information andthe point of interest information indicates that the point of interestlacks a type of food that the venue attendee dislikes.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising identifying, based on an estimated movementspeed of the venue attendee, that the venue attendee must begin headingtoward a location of the point of interest within a predetermined periodof time for the venue attendee to arrive at the location of the point ofinterest at a particular time, wherein the particular time is associatedwith the point of interest in the itinerary.
 11. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving, from a mobile device associated with asecond venue staff member, a location of the mobile device associatedwith the second venue staff member; and selecting the mobile deviceassociated with the venue staff member to be sent the alert rather thanthe mobile device associated with the second venue staff member based onthe location of the mobile device associated with the venue staff memberbeing closer than the location of the mobile device associated with thesecond venue staff member to the location of the mobile deviceassociated with the venue attendee.
 12. The method of claim 1, whereinidentifying the dissimilarity between the suggested path for the venueattendee and the current path of the venue attendee includes identifyingthat the current path leads more toward a location of a second point ofinterest than toward the location of the point of interest identified bythe itinerary.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the venue attendee isin a group, and wherein the itinerary associated with the venue attendeeis also associated with one or more other venue attendees in the group.14. A system for assisting a venue staff member in providing guidancewithin a predetermined venue area, the system comprising: acommunication transceiver that receives a location of a mobile deviceassociated with the venue staff member and a location of a mobile deviceassociated with a venue attendee and that sends an alert to the mobiledevice associated with the venue staff member; a memory that storesinstructions and an itinerary associated with the venue attendee; and aprocessor, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor causesthe processor to: generate a suggested path for the venue attendee fromthe location of the mobile device associated with the venue attendee toa location of a point of interest identified by the itinerary, generatea current path of the venue attendee based on the location of the mobiledevice associated with the venue attendee and one or more past locationsof the mobile device associated with the venue attendee, identify adissimilarity between the suggested path for the venue attendee and thecurrent path of the venue attendee, and generate the alert automaticallyin response to identifying the dissimilarity.
 15. The system of claim14, wherein the communication transceiver receives the location of themobile device associated with the venue attendee from the mobile deviceassociated with the venue attendee.
 16. The system of claim 14, whereinthe communication transceiver receives the location of the mobile deviceassociated with the venue staff member from the mobile device associatedwith the venue staff member.
 17. The system of claim 14, wherein thecommunication transceiver receives the itinerary associated with thevenue attendee.
 18. A method for assisting a venue staff member inproviding guidance within a predetermined venue area, the methodcomprising: receiving a location of a mobile device associated with thevenue staff member; receiving a location of a mobile device associatedwith a venue attendee; generating a suggested path for the venueattendee from the location of the mobile device associated with thevenue attendee to a location of a point of interest identified in anitinerary associated with the venue attendee; generating a current pathof the venue attendee based on the location of a mobile deviceassociated with the venue attendee and one or more past locations of themobile device associated with the venue attendee; identifying adissimilarity between the suggested path for the venue attendee and thecurrent path of the venue attendee; and sending an alert identifying thevenue attendee to the mobile device associated with the venue staffmember automatically in response to identifying the dissimilarity. 19.The method of claim 18, further comprising identifying that the locationof the mobile device associated with the venue attendee is closer to thelocation of the mobile device associated with the venue staff memberthan it is to any of a plurality of locations of other mobile devicesassociated with other venue staff members before sending the alert tothe mobile device associated with the venue staff member.
 20. The methodof claim 18, wherein the alert also identifies the point of interestidentified in the itinerary associated with the venue attendee.